Ed, Edd n' Eddy 2470 Ep 3: Temporal Displacement
by JM-Dude
Summary: Years later, the war against Payne and his new weapon, the Operatives, has been lost. The only survivor, the young Lance can't escape the doomed Earth beneath him. With surprise, he glances one word: Hope! ! Hope indeed...If only the past could be changed
1. Prelude

Max Payne's rain of destruction increased as the years flew by. After the battle of De'lomaar, Payne had discovered a way for himself to become almost invincible. Payne's rejuvenator, using his own nerve cells, created a new breed of warrior, the Operatives. They were clones of himself, engineered to work as a distributed intelligence, their minds linked and controlled by Max Payne. To make himself known as the true original, he disabled the Operatives ability to attain Super Saiyan levels, and lowered their power to a third of his own.

With this secret weapon, more powerful and more efficient than his destroyed Jade Death, in which he used in his last epic battle, he was able to enter through a tear in the Universe into the Hyperbolic Time chamber. The heroic fighters, J-Dude, Payne's soul brother, the three Ed's whose skills were proved essential in the previous battle, Ed's sister Sarah, who's rage and Saiyan pride made her one of the most temperamental of the team and the second newest member of the group, Jason, whose abilities had yet to be fully under control, was on the strike force. Max sent one of his Operatives through the rift to destroy the main entrance, and strand the valiant team in the harsh dimension.

Thanks to unparalleled courage from J-Dude, he was able to hold the portal open after the Operative's energy blast had caused it to collapse. J-Dude was the only one to remain in the eternal void. The now downhearted group attempted to find and stop Max once and for all, but the Operatives made a search and destroy hunt for them and their homes, hoping to take away any shred of morale they had left. It appeared to have worked. They hid in various areas of Earth, careful not to be seen by even one Operative, ensuring the coming of the others. After Eight days, the Earth was in complete disarray, a post apocalyptic wasteland as far as the eye could see.

The team had found the Eds home of Peach Creek in tatters, all dead and burning, except for one child whose origin was as of yet unknown. The Eighth day came with the arrival of J-Dude, who had escaped the time chamber through a huge blast of sound. His eight years in the chamber had done him well, now having trained so hard, but he was now aging, though his appearance never changed. J-Dude had decided to gather the remainder of the powerful beings of Earth, the so called super heroes who had protected their cities with great vigilance, having abandoned the metropolis's they had once held dear, now fighting for the very survival of mankind itself. Fourteen years later, the trained heroes that J-Dude and the team had formed where all destroyed, including a small group of whom the Saiyan team had quickly developed a strong friendship with, whose loss was staggering. They all agreed that one final assault be made on Max's entire armada, a last bout for revenge, and hope…


	2. All Is Lost

The sky was orange red. The Sun setting, and the clouds of smoke and destruction filled the air over an almost untouched forest. The wind causing the tall grass in a large forest-clearing to blow placidly…

The calm before the storm…

A bolt of energy shredded the silence; many figures were seen floating hundreds of feet above the ground. A boy no older than fourteen with wild black hair looks on as an immense battle rages. In the sky ahead, all of the good-natured fighters plummet down towards Earth. Each stopping, their fall short lived. A sinister laughter rings through the dusk air. One of the voices speaks.

Max: "Still only children! Never knowing their limits! It was a fool's errand to come here brother. Your so-called legacy ends here with me, as does that of your entire planet!"

J-Dude: "It's no use reserving our power. If we let this fight drag on, he'll weaken us to the point of no return. Super Saiyan, highest form you have!"

The Ed's all went Super Saiyan 2, including Sarah and Jason, as their hair spiked upward violently. J-Dude alone went to the almighty stature of Super Saiyan 4, his true age of 43 showing, fur all on his body, hair long and Black as night; a long Saiyan tail moving around without true purpose.

Max: "As you wish brother! Let me show you my new ceremonious way of destroying planets!"

Max alone stood where he was, as the operatives made a large circle around him. The number of Operatives had to be close to fifty. They all shot a continuous beam of yellow energy meeting like an orb spider's web, directly under Max, its point like a crosshair peaking down at the heroes. The fighters looked at each other, and nodded, getting directly into position, their hands cupped and at their sides.

All Good: "KAAAA…MEEEE…HAAAA…MEEEE…!"

Max: "WELCOME TO DEATHS DOORSTEP! COMBINATION RAY!"

All Good: "HAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Max fired a huge yellow ray from one hand at the center of the "web", causing the power combo to surge down like a Hawk going for the kill. The other fighters brought their hands forward together, launching another similar blue colored combined attack. The two attacks met in midair, the blue one slightly feeble in contrast to the other yellow one. The yellow energy slowly forced the other back. Finally, the wild haired boy on the ground could no longer take the pain of waiting. He flew up with all speed, and charged his own Kamehameha Wave. Before he reached them though, a small bolt of energy hit him squarely in the face. The blast had come from Edd.

Boy: "Double D! What are you doing!"

Edd: "Protecting you Lance! I didn't train and watch you for most of your years just to let you be killed here!"

Lance: "I'm stronger now! You guys need help!"

Edd: "NO!"

Edd launched an invisible energy from his eyes that carried Lance all the way to the ground some three-hundred yards away. At that moment, the yellow beam had finally overcome the blue one, and Lance could only watch as it engulfed the people that he had known as friends. The yellow beam finally struck the Earth, burrowing through like a drill. Max's maniacal laughter reached Lances ears, and he dove at him in fury, until he was less than fifty feet away, and a sizeable explosion of rock and magma sent him back. The Max's all put a finger to their heads.

Max: "And so it ends! Goodbye wretched planet!"

With a flash, Max and his Operatives disappeared, and Lance could only run, as the very Earth he stood on cracked and melted. He new there wasn't a hope to be found, no matter how hard he ran. He didn't know Instant Transmission, he knew no way of escaping something like this. He just ran, leaping over fallen trees and lava flows. Suddenly, he tripped over something. He looked back and saw what appeared to be a yellow robotic leg, covered in centuries of moss and vines. Then he saw lettering. One word painted on a yellow hull: "Hope!" He didn't bother investigating. He looked near the top of the craft to find a cockpit, whose glass bubble dome was melted in the middle. He climbed inside, and pushed any button he found. Soon, it glowed to life. He found a few steering mechanisms, and tried them. It didn't move. The foliage was keeping it solid as rock on the floor. He spied a few levers next to the steering. One saying, "Go to Location", the other saying, "Go to Time". He pushed the lever on the top and punched in, "Planet Meldro", the only place he could think of. The engines roared, and suddenly he found himself attacked by electricity as the ship moved faster than light. With a last flash, the ship was on the ground of a rocky planet with an oxygen atmosphere. He looked in all directions, and saw a huge flash of light, that he could only guess was Earth. He jumped out of the cockpit, and looked on, horror and distress clenching his insides. He was alone now, probably the only survivor of the planet he had called home, the place he had devoted to saving from the evil of Max Payne. He had failed him and his friends. He fell on his knees. Tears fell silently down his face, a mingled feeling of hatred and sorrow coursing through him like adrenaline. He began an uproarious yell, until the ground around him cracked, and a yellow green aura surged around him…


	3. Back To The Present

Fourteen years prior…

In the depths of the alternate dimension of the hyperbolic time chamber, well into the massive void, J-Dude and Jason were having a heated sparring match. A few flashes were seen from far away, but closer, it I was much more. The two ran up to each other, and countered with an energy wave that met in midair. Jason had then pushed J-Dude back, and fired a few small energy waves that exploded on contact with the white ground. The Eds and Sarah were watching from a small distance practicing energy control, by sitting and charging an energy orb in their hands. About half a mile away, with a sucking sound a hole opened in midair, another entryway into the time chamber. Out of it, came Max Payne, and a small platoon of lesser soldiers, most of whom were alien descent. They were all muttering to themselves, as a few explosions appeared in front of them. Max stepped in front, looking smug.

Max: "So this is the hyperbolic time chamber? How quaint."

Max seemed tired of the chatter in the background.

Max: "Oh SHUT UP!"

They ceased almost instantly. Jason had risen up, and launched a large energy wave, while J-Dude rotated his arms around each other.

J-Dude: "Annihilation…WAVE!"

The two attacks met in midair, but Jason's was more powerful, having been trained so well this session. J-Dude fought it, pushing against the crushing beam. Finally, he sent it back, with a sort of backwards spin. Jason waited until the last moment, and dashed away with enough speed for it to seem as though he had vanished. The Eds tried to make a run for it.

Edd: "YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Eddy: "Scatter!"

Ed: "Heh heh heh heh. Huh huh huh! Ho!"

It exploded spectacularly; launching The Eds straight up, and right back into the floor, yelling as they went. Sarah was the only one with the sense to dash as Jason had. Ed alone seemed amused.

Ed: "Ho ho! Someone get the number of that bus? Heh heh, heh, heh heh heh heh heh!"

Jason and J-Dude had both stopped their match, having worn themselves out a great deal. They both slumped over to the Eds, satisfied with their advanced training.

Edd: "So, how'd it go?"

J-Dude: "Impressively! Jason's really improved since De'lomaar. I'm pretty sure he's close to making it to the second level!"

Max: "And he'll have plenty of time to reach it, after I've locked you away in eternity."

They turned their heads, starting, as they saw Max and his soldiers between them and the opening to the time chamber.

Max: "Parting is such sweet sorrow. Say goodbye…"

Max blasted in the direction of the portal door, which when collapsed, would close the gateway forever. J-Dude ran after it…

With a flash, a blast deflected the energy beam from its target. Everyone stopped in their tracks. Max's deflected blast descended upon the alien soldiers, annihilating the whole lot. A figure landed in front of the time chamber's entrance.

Figure: "Goodbye…"


	4. Could It Be?

The figure was a little if at all shorter than Edd, and had untamed black hair. He glared at Max with a sense of the utmost seriousness.

Max: "I don't know who you are, but if you don't mind me asking, what's in your head? Do you even know with whom you deal, boy?"

Figure: "I know exactly who I'm dealing with, Max. But technically, you're not the real Payne. Is it a shock to see that someone knows your secret, Operative?"

Indeed, Max narrowed his eyes, grimacing.

Max: "Who are you?"

Figure: "If you're wondering whether or not I'm human, then put your mind to rest. You bunch here aren't the only Super Saiyans in this dimension."

The figure barely moved, but a greenish yellow aura flared around him, undulating at first, before his hair spiked upward, and turned golden yellow. He was a Super Saiyan. As the others, including Max, stood gaping in perplexity, he dived to Max's side, and punched him fiercely once, sending him careening over the smooth landscape. The figure dashed to a point some fifty yards to the side of where Max would have landed, and prepared an attack. He moved his hands, one by one to a position that his forearms were facing up and down, and his elbow with the upper arm made a right angle in front of him. When he did this motion, his wrists flicked, his palms facing him. He then slammed his open hands together by the sides, and let his hands come together as if in prayer. He then moved his wrists up, fingers still touching each other, flexing them. He then rotated his wrists outward, and spoke the name of his attack while letting his fingers flex until they sprung forward, and he moved both arms in a wide horizontal arc releasing a wide, but not tall, pulse of energy that headed straight for Max, who was still heading across the figures range of targeting.

Figure: "PLASMA SHOT!"

The energy pulse swooped across, just as Max caught himself with one hand, and used it to flip once, just outside of the attacks point of damage. He was still looking in the direction of the attack, as he landed a hundred feet away from the attack, only just able to land right. He turned in the opposite direction to find the figure there. The figure searched his back quick, and threw two thin curved swords from twin sheaths. He let them go, and grabbed them the right way, so as to hold them properly for attack. Max didn't have time to react, the figure being so swift. He quickly made several smooth arcs with both blades, slicing through Payne's body as though it were butter. Max had an eternally shocked look on his face, as he was sliced into several pieces, not yet falling considering how sharp the blades were. Finally, he ended it by taking his swords, and connecting them together by the hilts, so now the weapon looked like a bow-and-arrow bow. Instead of a string, as the figure held it by the now single hilt, and from the sword tips, there was a bowstring made of yellow energy. Instead of loading it with an arrow, he simply pulled the 'string' back, and released it, letting out a wide ray of energy, as he shouted the attack.

Figure: "BOWSHOCK!"

The intense ray of energy blasted what was left of Max to molecules. The figure disconnected his swords, and sheathed them again. The others looked at him in disbelief. Could Payne really be gone for good?


	5. Lance's Story

Eddy: "Okay, freeze-frame, and skip back! Who the heck **_are_** you!"

Figure: "My name is Lance, but that's not really significant for the moment. There are more important things to say."

J-Dude: "More important things? You're a Saiyan other than us who has discovered his heritage, **_and_** achieved the mighty level of Super Saiyan, **_AND_** single-handedly annihilated the very enemy that we've been struggling to take out for months! There is no other topic I can imagine to be more important!"

Lance: "I didn't defeat Payne. That wasn't the original. That was just an Operative, probably one of his first."

Jason: "Operative? What's an Operative?"

Lance quickly explained Max's plan.

Lance: "The next place he'll strike is Peach Creek, to lure you out into the open. But he would have expected J-Dude here to be locked in the chamber, so now we can get there before him, or at least before he finishes the job."

Edd: "Excuse me um, Lance, but how is it that you know all of this?"

Lance: "That's superfluous. We don't have time."

Sarah: "In case you haven't noticed, the hyperbolic time chamber turns seconds out there into minutes in here. We've got all the time in the world."

Lance breathed out. He couldn't deny that he'd been expecting this to happen ever since he planned this interference.

Lance: "You'll probably think I'm crazy for saying this, but I'm from the future, thirteen years into it."

Eddy: "You're right; I **_do_** think you're crazy."

Edd: "Oh, as crazy as beings with the power to annihilate planets and travel at the speed of light? I've long given up on rationalizing the profusion of circumstances set in what would be the physically impossible. At this point, I'll believe almost anything."

Lance: "Okay. Back in my timeline, on this day at this moment, Max had come to this time chamber with the hopes of sealing you all in it. J-Dude, you would have just made it after the doorway was destroyed, and held it open long enough for the others to escape. You were trapped inside. That's where it all began. That's why I chose to come here first. I knew you in my timeline, and I also knew that had you been around at the beginning, we would have had a chance. Now I've changed history, so now you aren't trapped."

J-Dude: "What happened originally?"

Lance: "You were only trapped here for eight days, but it was long enough for him to take over. After eight days, everything was ruined. Most forms of life on Earth were extinct. He was quick and thorough. Like I said, he originally went to Peach Creek to lure you guys into the open, or at least crush your will to fight. In my timeline he destroyed it before you guys could get involved. He spared nothing and no one. There was only one survivor…me."

Eddy: "You? Wait one cotton-picking minute here! We know everyone in the Cul-de-sac! There aint nobody else that looks like you!"

Lance: "I can't tell you anything about that, since I don't know myself. Anyway, after those eight days, J-Dude finally escaped the time chamber, and had trained well past any degree we could imagine. During those thirteen years before my present, you J-Dude, had gathered all of the remaining special forces of Earth. You know, like super heroes and such. Everyone fought just on Earth all those years, hiding. You all trained me to fight, taught me to use my true potential. I grew up, never seeing the way the Earth was, as you all take it for granted now. I lived in a post apocalyptic Earth, where all cities were ruined, and going into the open was a death-wish. After all those years, the others of the super hero group were tracked down and eliminated one by one. I was about eight years old when the last were finally killed. As they dwindled, we forged closer ties of friendship with the survivors, one group that was a sort of team, even before Max took over. I can barely remember them, but I remember just how big a loss it was to you all. After about six years, when I was old enough and strong enough to fight, we decided to take a last stand. In a forest near the ruins of the ancient city called Gingertown, J-Dude called Max and his entire fleet of Operatives into the area. You Double D, forbade me to join in the fight, and I guess you were right, because after a last attack, Max and his Operatives had wiped you all out. I had to watch as you were all killed, in less than a second. Talking to you all now, it's like your all back from the dead or something like that. Anyway, he destroyed you all, and the Earth with a single attack. I was there."

Jason: "Hold up there. If you were there the second Earth was taken out, then how did you survive? How did you get here in the first place?"

Lance stared blankly, reminiscently into the floor.

Lance: "After the attack hit, I ran. I ran until I caught my foot on something, and found a machine that I've hidden at the moment. It was a miracle. It was a time machine. It was ancient, maybe even centuries old, but it worked as well as the day it was made. I escaped by a hair, and landed on a distant planet. You see, I never even knew I was a Saiyan, so what happened next was a true surprise. It was there that I gained my Super Saiyan powers, where I trained for weeks, planning for the time to come and set things right. It was almost too much to believe I'd be seeing my friends again. I've planned every possible phase, taking steps to ensure that things would turn out okay. As far as I could tell, I knew that the first thing to change was you getting trapped in here. I've done that. The next would be to stop Max's first attack, Peach Creek. If we save that town, we might be able to find out where I came from, and maybe even find a new ally. If I had any older siblings, they would have the same potential as I did. After that, I think we'll have to make it up as we go. Changing history like this could cause all manner of effects to come from a single cause."

J-Dude: "So, onward to Peach Creek. Eds, would you kindly lead the way?"


End file.
